Since the 1990’s there has been a clear understanding about the importance of talking with children and young people, in age-appropriate ways, about their diagnosis and treatment in instances of intersex or diverse sex development. Nevertheless, the few studies investigating this topic have reported that children and young people are often not told about their diagnosis and treatment at all, or not involved appropriately in conversations about their developing bodies. This opens questions about how health and social care professionals might better talk with children, young people, and their families. This also opens questions about how health and social care professionals are trained to talk about issues of sexuality, gender identity, sex development, and diversity.

About the speaker

Katrina Roen is leading a collaboration researching how specialists in European centres work with children, young people, and their families in the context of intersex / diverse sex development. Katrina is also the chair of EuroPSI: European Network for Psychosocial Studies in Intersex / Diverse Sex Development (www.europsi.org).

Katrina Roen is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Oslo, Norway. She is currently based in Auckland and is developing new collaboration with a view to relocating permanently to New Zealand. She is also an Honorary Academic in the School of Counselling, Human Services and Social Work, University of Auckland.